U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman (R.-Texas) said it's "silly" for the Missouri chapter of the NAACP to call for a federal probe into an incident involving a man who wore a mask of President Barack Obama during a controversial performance last weekend at the state fair, Fox News reports.

"A rodeo clown is really a nominal thing and it hurt no one," Stockman told FoxNews.com. "They didn't speak out when George Bush was being portrayed as a murderer. To become relevant again, they need to become more of an honest broker and not have contrived anger."

Stockman said the NAACP would better serve its constituents by focusing on ways to decrease unemployment among the black community. He also noted that the national civil rights group was silent after a July incident on a Florida bus where three black teens beat a fellow white student. Though Gulfport Police Chief Robert Vincent told Fox News the attack did not appear to be racially motivated, former Florida Rep. Allen West, who is black, chided Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, noting they condemned Florida's laws in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting yet remained mum on the bus attack.